Music, Moët and no boring speeches

Shiny little gold lapel buttons were a dime a dozen at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday night, when the Berlin Philharmonic began the Sydney leg of its inaugural Australian tour.

AOs and OMs were out in force, many having flown up from Melbourne for the classical music event of the year. Spotted in the crowd were
Frank Lowy
,
Jeanne Pratt
,
Solomon Lew
,
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis
,
Ros Packer
accompanied by National Gallery of Australia director
Ron Radford
, Sussan Group’s Marc and Eva Besen and their daughter Naomi Milgrom with husband John Kaldor.

Also in attendance was NSW Governor
Marie Bashir
and a host of cultural leaders including Art Gallery of NSW director
Edmund Capon
, Musica Viva artistic director
Carl Vine
, the heads of most of the state symphonies, and composer
Brett Dean
, the latter a former viola player with the orchestra.

In a touching dual tribute, Dean rose to applaud the band when it finished playing his composition Komarov’s Fall, following which the orchestra, led by conductor Simon Rattle, jumped to its feet and began applauding him.

Lowy showed the determination that got him to the top when he and wife Shirley chose to leave immediately after the final piece rather than stay for the encore, no mean feat when you’re seated in the middle of a prime stalls row. Perhaps he wanted to beat the car park traffic – or avoid signing autographs after his tear-jerking ABC TV appearance on Monday night.

VIPs who stayed for the after-party were treated to Moët champagne and canapes by
Matt Moran
.
The excitable crowd had to be shooshed multiple times as Opera House boss
Richard Evans
waxed on about the importance of the tour. If only they knew what they’d escaped – NSW Arts Minister
Virginia Judge
was not on the speaker roster for once, nor were there any ear-numbing speeches by sponsors.